Sea Notes

Coral Economy

Right now, most people are focused on an economic recovery and liking the signs they see, but marine scientists are also excited about a different kind of recovery: a coral reef that is gradually restoring itself back to health. The economic value of coral reefs should not be underestimated either. Many important fisheries rely on coral habitat, as does the tourist industry.

A few years ago, the world's remotest coral reef of the Phoenix Islands, part of the Republic of Kiribati  - in the Pacific - experienced a coral die-off event known as bleaching. This is when the tiny plants (algae) that live within the coral and provide it with the nutrients it needs, die, and the corals turn white without their symbiotic plant support. Coral bleaching is induced by warming waters. With ocean temperatures increasing around the world, scientists have long feared for the future of our coral reefs, with some estimating that warm water corals could be gone by 2050 if we continue to warm our water and not control our CO2 emissions. Corals are also impacted by the increasing acidity of our oceans, as the oceans absorb our pollution. We will be telling this important story in our new temporary exhibition opening in March 2010.

So scientists on a return trip to the Phoenix Islands recently were astonished and delighted to find that over half of the coral reef had regenerated and was teeming with life; corals are critical habitat for so many creatures.

The region is being proposed as a World Heritage Site, and perhaps this additional protection may have some benefits. But what is really important here is the ability of our ecosystems to self heal, if left alone from human interference. Marine scientists have been saying that this is true for some time - and other examples - closing areas to fishing, species protection etc. have shown it time and time again. But this is yet another example of how nature knows best and if we can allow it space and time, it can recover and renew.

Red Herrings and White Elephants

The great white shark is now doing so well we only get a weekly update from our husbandry team, unless anything out of the ordinary takes place.

This was not such a week. The Friday update says, the status is quo, mackerel is still the food de jour and all is fine. Makes for a happy husbandry division, but a less exciting blog!

I'd love to tell you tales of extraordinary doings, but the truth is that having a juvenile great white, that feeds every day at our behest, swims calmly and comfortably on exhibit and plays nicely with others, is beyond extraordinary. This being our fifth time, it can be too easy to take it all for granted. And yet, we are doing what no other institution has done, and that's to keep a white shark healthy and fed and in a condition to be returned back to the wild as a viable and vital member of her community.

We make it look easy, no doubt, but since our first successful attempt in 2004, no other facility in the world has attempted to replicate. That surely speaks to the magnitude of what we're doing here.

So if you do get the chance to stop by and say "hi" to her in person, remember that what you are witnessing is no red herring or white elephant. She's the real deal!

White Tag Sale

If you look carefully at the great white shark in our exhibit, you may see evidence of the satellite tag she wore during her stay in our ocean net pen. Had it been appropriate to release her from the pen, we could have done so without recapturing her. The tag was removed for her transfer to the Aquarium, but a new tag will be fitted when she returns to her ocean home.

Finding out where young white sharks go is as important to us as having one on display for a short time. If not more important. For without this information, we cannot hope to inform any policy decisions about the best ways to protect them.

Our juvenile white shark program is a cooperative and collaborative effort with Stanford University (among others). Stanford scientists are also tagging and tracking adult white sharks as part of the Tagging of Pacific Predators program. You can watch near-real time movements of great whites - even become a friend of Omoo, a feisty great white on Facebook, or download his widget and see what he's up to!

On the U.S. east coast this month, scientists tagged two adult great whites for the first time. Although sightings of these big fish are somewhat common on the Atlantic coast, they're not abundant in New England where these sharks were outfitted with their techno-jewelry. Hopefully, they will reveal some secrets of the life of a great white on the eastern seaboard.

There's so much to learn about these large predators. Hard to believe that we can know so little about something so big, and with such a reputation! But one of the world's largest sharks - megamouth - was not even discovered until 1976! It's a big ocean out there.

Vitamin Enriched

One sure way to keep our young great white sharks healthy on exhibit is to offer them vitamins along with the fish we feed them at mealtime.

Now our resident white shark has begun taking her vitamins.

Last Wednesday, our aquarists began adding vitamin supplements to the mackerel and salmon they feed her. The supplements are from a commercial supplier, and they're specially formulated for sharks and rays. It's something we (and other aquariums) commonly use to make sure our exhibit animals get all the water- and fat-soluble vitamins they need for optimal health.

There's a certain irony in giving vitamins to sharks, since shark populations are threatened in the wild because so many have been killed to produce vitamins and supplements for people. Large animals like basking sharks and Greenland sharks were decimated when they were hunted to turn their fatty livers into Vitamin A supplements.

Recently, shark cartilage and other shark byproducts have been touted as potential cancer cures, fueling another spike in the marketing of shark products.

You can take action for sharks in the wild by contacting your U.S. Senators to urge their support for legislation that will close the last loophole in the marketplace that supports shark finning. On a personal level, you can also be sure not to use shark products -- and by spreading the word to friends and family.

Julie Packard - 2009 Coastal Hero

The Aquarium's Executive Director was recently honored to be selected by the California Coastal Commission to receive an Ocean Heroes Award.

The ceremony, which took place last night, was the first such occasion, and recognized nine individuals who have worked tirelessly for our coast, it's wildlife and for all of us who live here and know that this is one of the most remarkable places on our planet.

Although it is the Monterey Bay Aquarium's 25th Anniversary in October, this is actually Julie's 30th year with the institution. During those 30 years, she has seen the Aquarium established as a world leader in the aquarium field, but also increasingly recognized as a national conservation organization; this year also being the 10th Anniversary of our Seafood Watch program. Increasingly the Aquarium is seen as a force in policy and advocacy, championing the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health, and supporting the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, to create a network of marine protected areas along the entire California Coast.

To work for Julie and the aquarium is to be inspired on a daily basis. The aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the oceans. Visitors, staff and volunteers alike are living this mission. You will find three such stories in Julie's blog today on Huffington Post.

We hope you will continue to inspired by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and join us in taking action for healthy oceans.

 

To Love the Land

Jim Covel is senior manager of Guest Experience Training and Interpretation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This entry also appeared in the National Association for Interpretation's blog.

As I sit here writing, I’m enjoying a dried apricot.  Not just any apricot, but one that was grown in David Packard’s orchard that surrounds the Packard home in Los Altos Hills on the San Francisco Peninsula.  Most folks know David Packard as the co-founder of Hewlett Packard, makers of computers and other electronic devices.  What you may not know is that Mr. Packard was a devoted outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish, raised prize cattle, spent long hours in his own blacksmith shop, and yes—loved his apricot orchard.  Each year at this time Mr. Packard would bring a bushel basket of dried apricots to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to share with the volunteers and staff.  These were beautiful Blenheim apricots that were grown, harvested and dried by the Packard family.  Somehow sharing these apricots with us was a way of sharing a little bit of themselves with the rest of us.

 

David Packard grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, in an era when hiking, hunting, fishing, and horseback riding were a common part of a boy’s life.  As a boy, David Packard lived close to the land.  David Packard the man kept that enduring connection to the land throughout his life.  As the Hewlett Packard company became increasingly successful, Mr. Packard had the means to support open space and habitat preservation efforts.  The Packard Foundation has played a significant role in preserving critical habitats, particularly in California where rapid urbanization is overtaking so much open space. 

 

As more and more of us grow up in urban settings, fostering that abiding connection to the land becomes increasingly difficult.  I worry about where the next John Muir, Aldo Leopold or David Packard will come from.  I do know that next generation of stewards is more than likely in a park, a nature center, a zoo or aquarium right now, where interpreters are helping to nurture the values that are common to conservation leaders in any era.  You see that connection to the land is so often inspired through a close connection to other people that love the land.  Those people may be parents or relatives, a camp counselor, teacher, a naturalist or interpreter or others.  It’s a responsibility we all share if we care about the future and nurturing the next generation of stewards.

 

Of the many contributions he made in so many areas, David Packard felt that resource conservation—taking care of the land—would far outlast his other activities.  Seeing how he inspired that conservation ethic in his children and grandchildren, and how they carry on his love of nature, I think he may be right.  That apricot orchard not only produced a delicious crop of fruit every year, but the love that David and Lucile Packard invested in those trees taught their family to love the land, and that lesson will bear fruit for many generations to come.

 

-Jim Covel

The Sound of Silence

Just when you think you're getting to know someone... "No thanks," said the great white shark. "I'm really not hungry today." Salmon, mackerel, pass.

Now remember, this is not your dog or cat, or your Aunt Sue. This is a wild animal that may not find food on a daily basis, or need to eat regularly. So we're not concerned.

We've had other white sharks take a day or two off from the food fest, and then come back for the snack attack.

Her behavior is otherwise completely normal. She just wasn't hungry!

We're really more concerned about what she'll eat out in the wild when she returns in the next weeks/months ahead. With the world's fisheries pretty much at capacity, or overfished to supply we land mammals, there has to be concern about what is left to feed those that can't shop at alternate stores, or eat chicken! But we know you'll be using your Seafood Watch pocket guide to make "Best Choices."

Also of concern is the high levels of PCBs, DDT and other toxins that are accumulating in top predators. Dolphins and killer whales are showing alarming high rates of such contaminants, including the local population of bottlenose dolphin here in Monterey Bay. Seals and sea lions, the favored prey of adult great white sharks, also are testing positive. No one knows what the long term effects might be for these animals at the top of the food chain. But like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, they are telling us that things are amiss, and we need to fix it.

Meanwhile, from the young white shark in our care, just white noise.

Pass the Lemon

Variety is the spice of life, so heard the great white shark, and obliged our husbandry staff in finally chowing down on over a pound of wild Alaska salmon. There's no Zagat Guide for white sharks, so only time will tell if this is to be her new favorite dining opportunity, or whether the mackerel will still be tops. She did also eat mackerel as a side dish.

Our Curator of Husbandry Operations, Paul Clarkson notes that this shark is still feeding a little differently to her predecessors. Given her preference for swimming lower in the water column (often the best visitor view is still in our Vanishing Wildlife gallery), when the food is offered she has to come from a depth of 35 feet and does so in quite the hurry. "That bottom to surface approach results in her charging and hitting the food items quickly and provides for some exciting behaviors," says Paul. I think that's code for some quick beating hearts of those holding the feeding pole!

We're still working to have her feed at the surface. That way we can stop the tuna and other swift predators from stealing her meal. However, there's instinct at play here. Great white sharks do often charge their prey; coming from below at impressive speeds to hit an elephant seal or other blubbery mammal. This first bite will usually incapacitate, if not kill, and then the shark will circle back around later for supper. There's no hurry. Who would try to steal the food of a great white shark?

Researchers who worked for years with the adult population at the Farallon Islands off San Francisco noted a pecking order, that few dared to challenge. The large females - affectionately known as the Sisters, would be the most respected. After that came the large adult males, "the Rat Pack." One young white shark who did not subscribe to the notion of waiting in line did not survive to pass his genes along! Sometimes, it's a shark eat shark world out there!

Film Friday: Ten Pounds

The juvenile great white is working on a sequel to the movie Seven Pounds - which incidentally did include a mention of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and our jellyfish collection.

From a quick calculation this morning, the girl has eaten over ten pounds of mackerel since she started snacking on September 1. An average of a pound a day - but actually her appetite is highly variable. Some days she just wants a nibble and another she eats the shop!

She showed interest in the salmon steak yesterday and "mouthed" it, but decided more mackerel was her thing.

Great whites like to mouth things. It's their way of investigating their world. What would you do without hands? It's also the reason that a number of people have survived a great white kiss. If you take a little bite of a candy and find out that it's cherry and you don't like cherry, you don't eat it, right? Same goes for sharks. We don't taste good. Distinct lack of blubber. It's the shark equivalent of scratch and sniff.

Recently a group of people who'd been to a shark tasting went to Congress to appeal on behalf of sharks. They didn't see themselves as "victims of shark attacks," but as something dressed akin to seal skin in a predators' environment. They went in support of the Shark Conservation Act of 2009. This legislation aims to do what its predecessor (the Shark Finning Act of 2000) failed to do. Finally bring an end to illegal shark finning and trade in U.S. waters. Though it will still be legal to fish for sharks, and to bring the fins back to shore, providing they are still attached to the body. The practice of shark finning results in live sharks being discarded finless, to die a slow and lingering death.

You can support the Shark Conservation Act today, and let your Senator know why it's important to you. The great white says thanks, and pass the mackerel please.

Carnival of the Blue 28

The monthly compendium of the best of ocean blogging, this month hosted by The Saipan Blog. Check it out here.